South Korean stock market turnover has plunged 70% from its late-May peak

PANews reported on October 11, citing Cailian Press, that for most of this year, South Korea was a quintessential example of the global AI boom. Now, by nearly every metric, Korean stocks are rapidly losing investor attention. Market turnover has plunged 70% from its late-May peak, foreign investors are quickly pulling out, and local retail investors are also exiting. Behind this reversal is the Korean stock market's over-reliance on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Phillip Wool, head of portfolio management at Rayliant Global Advisors, said: "I think the biggest challenge for most investors, especially those who only recently entered the Korean market because of the memory chip trade, is that the easy money under this theme has already been banked." He said his fund has been taking profits on Korean AI stocks and is currently underweight SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. Richard Tang of Julius Baer said: "We are observing funds increasingly flowing back into U.S. stocks, which has led to continued foreign capital outflows from Korean stocks."